Birthday angels

 One of the challenges when making birthday cards is finding a way to reflect the season with the card decorations but at the same time, not overpowering the birthday sentiment with the seasonal decoration.   I think this is especially challenging for Christmas-time birthdays.

I have found a great solution for this year's December birthday cards I have had to make, and there seem to be a lot of them!  I have a new stamp set of angels.  While the sentiments are mostly Christmas-related, a couple of the angels are holding a banner onto which you can stamp numerous words, such as "blessings," "peace," etc.  

"Blessings" is a good birthday sentiment as well as Christmas, so making the angel hold a blessing banner makes a great Christmas-y birthday card, especially when adding a "Happy Birthday" sentiment,as you can see here:

I made this one using gold and white card stocks, but I also made a couple using white and deep blue.  They all came out so pretty and festive with just a little bit of Christmas included.

Thanks,Maymay, for yet another inspiring stamp set!  This one is called "Good News."

Special Christmas greetings

 It is always hard for me to make Christmas cards way earlier than December, as many people do, so I end up having more than I need to do once Thanksgiving rolls around.  I am trying to train myself to think Christmas earlier each year if I am going to want to make cards for people.  This year I am about two weeks earlier than usual, so I am pleased with my "progress!"

I am using Maymay's Adore Him stamp set this year and I really like the sentiments included in the set.  So far I have made six cards all basically the same design, using an old die set for a snow globe from Paper Wishes along with the new stamps.

I embossed a piece of vellum paper and attached it to the front of the card, then made a narrow frame to go around the outside edges.  That way the vellum is protected where it wants to tear from the embossing.  I also colored a circle of vellum to place behind the stamp of the holy family, and added a few white snowflake dots around the image.  The edge of the globe is three layers thick just to give a bit of extra life to the card, the top layer is cut from holographic paper.

Praying blessings

 When I received the latest Maymay Scripture stamp set called Knowing He Will, I was thrilled because of the timing of the wonderful sentiments.  There are a number of special thank you cards I wanted to make in the next few weeks and this set fit what I wanted to say perfectly.  Here is the first card I have made using the set.  It is for the church deacon assigned to stay in touch with our Sunday School class.  He is a young thing, compared to us senior women (he's in his late 30's, is my guess).

I used paper from a pack of 6 x 6 in. fall papers I purchased earlier.  So far I have made about 30 cards using pieces and parts of that pack of paper.  I've pictured several in earlier blog posts, and am tickled that I have gotten so many cards from that one pack of 24 papers.

Telephone Card

 Another Maymay Made It stamp set I purchased is one I anticipate using a lot because I send a lot of "praying for you" cards.  Here is a card I made to send to a friend who is a new widow and needs some encouragement in the form of a reminder that God is right there with her and that I am praying for her.

Scripture-based Stamps

One of the things I have wished I could find for card making was stamps with nice Bible-based messages because I send so many cards trying to encourage folks to trust the Lord, or know I am praying for them.  I have found one here and there through the years but not much until ... 

I found Maymay Made It!  Maymay has a whole line of Bible-based stamps, some are whimsical/cute and others are more serious, but each set has Bible verses and verse-based messages along with simple art stamps that go along with the theme of the set.  I love them!

I joined her stamp set of the month last month and got a set that is mostly a Thanksgiving theme but can easily be used for encouragement cards as well.  Here are three cards I made using it:

World Cardmaking Day 2022

 October 1, 2022, was World Cardmaking Day and I did something I have never done before. I set aside all my usual Saturday tasks to make cards most of the day.  The bathrooms did not get cleaned, the laundry still sits in the dirty laundry basket, the living room remains un-dusted.  The only thing I did was to cook supper. BUT I had a great time making cards.

I decided to use papers from a 6 x 6 pad of fall designed paper.  I looked for ideas on designs and chose two methods to use as my idea base.  I ended up making ten cards:

The papers are basically the usual fall colors - red, gold and orange with a tiny bit of green thrown in, so I used metallic brown, metallic rust, and metallic green papers for the bases of the cards.

The first six cards I made using a template for a 6 x 6 one sheet wonder, which made three cards from one sheet.  I used two papers to do that.  These are the cards I made with that template, which I found on the Internet:

The other four cards I made using an idea I found on Pinterest where you cut four sheets into four pieces each, stack them up by shape and size, then place one of each sheet onto the front of the card.  

  

Here is what I made, and if you look carefully, you can see one piece of each of the four sheets on each of the card fronts.  I was not sure I would like it, but as it turns out, I really enjoyed making these cards ... simple but the result is quite effective, I think. By changing the backgrounds, the cards looked different (I am not good at making all the same ... I would never have been able to work in a factory where I had to do the same thing over and over and over!).

A Rosy thank you

 I like the simplicity of the current sketch at Freshly Made Sketches.  It is the perfect format for a thank you card I needed to make.

 

 Here is how I used it.

Celebration

 I made this card for a friend who was just declared cancer-free by her doctor.  I and all her friends have been praying for her for three years, so this was a celebration for us as well as for her. 

The sentiment I used is from a stamp set I purchased in 2016 and I thought it suited the circumstances perfectly. 

This card follows the sketch for the current challenge over at Retro Rubber Challenge Blog, so I think I will enter that challenge.  Not only did I use an old stamp for the front of the card, I was able to use a piece of pretty roses paper that I've had for a while and I added the scallop cover die in the background that I have had for several years as well, so I am pretty pleased with the final card design.

More Leaf Paper Cards

 Well, I have used all but a small piece of the leaf paper I started using earlier, and I am pleased to have come up with so many ways to use that paper, and I like all of them!

The first one is based on the current challenge over at Freshly Made Sketches.  This is the sketch I used:

 

Here is my interpretation, using the leaf paper as the background:

 I double stamped and embossed the sentiment, first with white pearl embossing powder then offset slightly and embossed with plain white.  I wanted a shadow effect, but not too much.  That's why, in the photo, it looks like it is blurred, but in "real life" it is quite striking.

I am going to submit this to the challenge.

I also made two other cards using the same leaf paper in the background.

I wanted to try some more non-traditional color combinations.  I am always afraid to try that even though I enjoy seeing what others do in that area.  I don't have a lot of color confidence, but I was pleased with my little girl card and the pinks and fushia I used.

Leaf sympathy card

 I have a bad habit of keeping papers I purchased to use in scrapbooking and/or card making and not actually using them.  Sometimes it is because I like the paper so much I want just the "right" way to use it.  That is what has happened this week.

I have a page of leaf-covered paper that I really like but never seemed to find just the right time to use it but when I saw the current challenge at the Alphabet Challenge Blog this week, I decided I needed to get out that paper I've had for several years, and put it to use. The challenge is "L is for Leaves."

Then I took a look at the current challenge #709 over on Sketch Saturday and saw the perfect opportunity to use it, given what I was thinking of doing for the leaf challenge.  Here is the sketch I used:

 

Here is the card I made that I am planning to enter into both challenges this week.

As you can see, I have used my leaf paper for the background.  The leaves on the paper are a nice mixture of green, blue and turquoise colors with a brown every now and then. I really like the little leaf die so I cut two from green metallic card stock and one from a dark turquoise paper.  It's interesting to me (the non-photographer that I am) that the green metallic paper I used for both of the small rectangles showed up so differently in this photograph when I put the turquoise leaves on one and a matching green metallic leaf set on the one on the upper right, but in any case, I was pleased with the final outcome.

I made this into a sympathy card for a dear friend.

I still a a piece of the leaf paper, so I have more challenge ahead to actually use it up!  This project gives me courage to keep working on it.
 

Masculine birthday card

 I usually have a hard time coming up with ideas for masculine birthday cards so when I saw the sketch at the Freshly Made Sketches this week, I immediately saw how good a sketch it would be for using a masculine theme.

This is the sketch they have for the current challenge:

 

With all the right angles and the general layout, I thought this looked very masculine!  Here is the card I made based on that sketch.

 Blue and brown were the main colors, as you can see.  I used a piece of tan embossed card stock for the background.  The multicolored top rectangle is white card stock that I inked using a stencil I got recently in a kit from Pink & Main.  I wanted to add a little bit of colors besides the hues of blue and I think that helps with the card's appeal.

Long story short, I am entering this card into the challenge at Freshly Made Sketches.

Never-ending Need

 Seems like the older we get, the more frequently our friends pass away.  Russ and I knew that would be the case, but these days the reality of it all hits us often, so it seems I need to make a stash of sympathy cards so I'll have at least one on hand at all times.  This is the one I made yesterday.  I actually made two, and already found it necessary to use one of them, so this is the one I have left.

I embossed a piece of white card stock to use as the background, and made one of my favorite color combinations, black and white.  It is on a background of black, and then put on a white card base.

Will I remember next time?

 I have made and sent so many cards in the past year and a half, but until yesterday afternoon, I never seem to think to photograph them before they get mailed.  I have never been good at using my camera, and am not really certain I have gotten into the habit even after all these years of photo opportunities.

But one can keep on trying to change things like this, so I'm going to try once again to be more deliberate.  Having card challenges helps motivate my photography, so this week I am entering my card in the Sketch Saturday challenge #708.

 

I missed my friend's birthday, so made this card based on the colors of her favorite (American) football team, orange and purple.